Joe Symes And The Loving Kind, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool (2015).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

If the rust ever starts to show in music from Liverpool, if there is ever a doubt to the sheer strength in depth available to the lovers of the well smashed drum skin and tumultuous cymbal, of the well heeled bass guitar being unheard in the darkening skies, that the possible mix of vocals, mournfully erotic violin and the hearty sax ever disappearing from view in the city that gave modern music to the rest of the U.K. Then the end is quite possibly near and the fifth horseman would be seen galloping down the Anfield Road with a backing tape in his back pocket and a karaoke machine strapped to his leather saddle.

Thankfully the chances of that happening whilst bands such as Joe Symes and The Loving Kind are playing their superb sets in venues across the city and beyond are about as likely as the same horseman finding solace in the works of Vivaldi and dismissing Holst as a rank amateur.

For Joe Symes, Colin White, Chris Giblin, Paul Hetherington and the Zanzibar crowd, the August Bank Holiday weekend not only is a time when the summer’s heat gives off what it can of its remaining heat and luminosity, it adds to the whole point of living in and taking part in a city that adds so much art to the world and as always the sound created by this talented foursome enthralled and captivated an audience that was out to make the most of the live music available in the area of the weekend.

The nights may be drawing in around the Northern hemisphere but that doesn’t mean that the spark of electricity and the hum of musical endeavour has to take a back seat to the thought of the twinkling bauble and the glitter of a fairy precariously hanging onto the top of a Christmas Tree with her virtue intact should ever come between a music lover and a band of great quality and in Joe Symes and The Loving Kind that quality once more shone through.

Opening up their set with the songs Long Black Funeral Cars and Calling Out For You, Joe Symes and The Loving Kind tossed musical delights furnished with lyrical truth that showed no mercy out for inspection and not once were the songs to be found wanting.

There was also something very different about Colin White’s drumming on the night, a wonderful sense of anger mixed with sincere playfulness that was reminiscent of watching The Who’s Keith Moon snarling from behind the snare. This added a sense of vulnerability to which both Chris Giblin and Paul Hetherington pounced upon and gave the set a moody sense of cool and unflappable decorum.

With songs such as I’m Gonna Find Out Someday, the excellent Summer’s Almost Coming, Blame It On Yourself and the superb Fallen Down all entering the night’s parade, this was a superb gig given by one of the impressive 21st Century Liverpool bands. A set of high satisfaction and valour!

Ian D. Hall